On Sunday, West Bengal's Director General of Police (DGP), Rajeev Kumar, stated that he had sent a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) requesting a complete review and improvement of the process for verifying and issuing new passports to prevent misuse.

Kolkata Police recently uncovered a fake passport scam and arrested at least eight people involved in it. Speaking to reporters, the IPS officer mentioned that in a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), they highlighted issues with the software and suggested that superintendents of police should personally handle the verification process. "We have written to the MEA requesting them to strengthen the passport verification system. We have proposed a new system where the district intelligence branch (DIB), local police stations, and senior officers will have a more significant role," Kumar said. "In the letter, we have also expressed our concerns about the distribution of passports through post offices. All the agencies must collaborate to address these vulnerabilities. We aim to strengthen the system to prevent misuse," Kumar added.

The police officer brought up the present practice of the police not being involved in confirming an applicant's name, address, or signature when passports are issued. This is because the passport seva kendras and passport offices handle those paperwork until re-verification is specifically requested. "There is no requirement for police to meet the applicant or obtain their signature on the police verification report (PVR). This policy might have been introduced by the MEA to simplify the process. We propose that SPs personally oversee and ensure thorough verification," the IPS officer said.

The Kolkata Police recently uncovered a fake passport racket and arrested eight people involved. On Saturday night, they caught the main leader of the group, a travel agent, in North 24 Parganas district. Before this, they had already arrested a few others connected to the racket. During the operation, police seized several fake documents, along with hard drives, a computer, and a laptop used to create the fake passports. Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, attacked the IPS officer, claiming that his department's "botched-up verification process" prevented them from identifying infiltrators. "It's your department that has completely failed to identify and nab the infiltrators and even helped them to obtain (an) Indian passport and other documents by carrying out a botched-up verification process," Adhikari posted on X.